When Should I Start Rice Cereal, Is 5 Months Too Early???

i started my girls at 4 months, started really watery and then took their clues on whether they were ready and when they needed it. as they got older, i served it thicker and mixed with frut and veges. if he can sit up in a high chair and seems not to have any issues with eating, i would say go for it. he will probably love it!

my son started at 4 months and loved it he quickly went from cereal once a day to twice and then at 6 months transitioned well to babyfood, eating 3 times a day right from the start! Good luck.

Our doc told us to wait until he was 6 months. I'm not sure if there was a good medical reason to wait until that age or not.

My daughter is 4mos. and I just started her on cereal/applesauce. She's doing great. Also a big baby at birth 6lbs. (born 6weeks premature) Alot of ppl will say to hold off or wait til 6mos. this or that. I am looking at the cues from my daughter... still hungry after many many bottles, holding her head up, almost sitting up.

Hi,

You will get a variety of answers on this one. Most MDs say between 4-6 months is OK. Diehard breastfeeders will say that you should wait until 6 months, preferably later.

This is something that you really have to just try and see how it goes--that's the only way you'll know.

I gave my son oatmeal around 4-5 months and he tolerated it just fine. We quickly moved on to bananas, avocados, and apricots.

You can start cereal anytime between 4 and 6 months. The signs I usually have watched for are, not seeming satisfied with formula/breast milk or having good control with the tongue. He should be fine with the cereal. Of course my kids never liked just cereal, w always incorporated fruits or veggies or juice with it.

Hi there,
I think it's just fine to start him, especially given his height and weight. Also, you want to make sure that your son can hold his head up with good strength. My son never really liked the rice cereal by itself, so we quickly progressed to veggies. He liked the cereal a bit better if I mixed it with apple juice instead of water/breastmilk. I started my son with the rice cereal at 5 months. Good luck and take care!

I think most doctors say anywhere between 4-6 months is safe to start infant cereal. I started my daughter at around 5 months.

My son started at 4mo because it seemed that his bottle never filled him. Make sure it has is watery like stage one food. He didn't know what to think at first but then he liked it. Then actually we stareted giving him stage one fruit and veggies. The doctor said it was fine just watch out for allergys. Don't try to many different ones at once and stick with the same ones for 3 days no less to see if they have a reaction to it.

We started to feed our DS rice cereal at 5 months.

Gosh, I don't think it is too early. One of my kiddos was a really big baby at birth and breastfed as well, and I know I started her on cereral before her 5th month to help her get through the night. I started her on mostly breastmilk mixed with very little cereal in the evenings and worked my way up from there. It doesn't take much to fill those little tummies up :)

I know most doctors will recommend that you wait to start solids until 6 months, but my kids wanted FOOD at 4 months. Neither of my boys was a fan of rice cereal, though, so after a few attempts, I would switch to oatmeal. When my oldest was 4 months old, he desperately wanted a banana that someone had. I let him have a taste and he polished off almost 1/2 of it! He was one happy boy after that and was hooked on solids. We never had any problems because of it. By 6 months, he could pick up Cheerios and wanted to eat everything we ate. It was hard to keep him at bay when it came to food. =)
I think it's TOTALLY fine to start at 5 months, especially since your son is big and healthy, but I would start by diluting it a lot until he gets a feel for it, and only wait a while before introducing more new foods if at all possible.